channel lineup problem "comcast howard county digital"

[deruberhanyok]

Hey all, long time user, first time poster.

I have Comcast basic cable. I can tune the HD rebroadcasts of the local networks over unencrypted QAM (have a TV with a clear QAM tuner), but I'm having trouble getting my channel lineup properly configured in Sage.

When I go to select a channel lineup for my zip code I can choose "Comcast Howard County Digital" or "Comcast Howard County Rebuild Digital." The "Rebuild" listing is completely devoid of listings so I choose the first one.

From there, I select basic (or extended, same thing happens) and have it scan for all available channels. The result is always the same: all of the channels are detected and work but the numbers assigned to them are wrong and so I cannot get program guide data for them.

For example, I see channel numbers like "45-1008-1" and "84-1008-1" and plenty of others. Scanning through them I see that these are the network channels I'm trying to set up.

Is there something wrong with this particular listing? The only solution I've come up with so far is to look at every available channel until I find all of the networks, then remap them to the right channels so I can schedule recordings and use the program guide. I'm posting here hoping there may be a less involved solution.

[matt91]

I'm a little confused - do you have a digital tuner in your sage computer? Which one?

[deruberhanyok]

I think I see where your confusion is coming from. The only reason I mentioned the TV is because I used that to confirm that the HD network rebroadcasts are available in clear QAM for me.

I upgraded my HTPC after confirming that. The tuner I am using is an Hauppauge HVR-1800, and when I am setting up this particular video source I am using the digital tuner and telling it to tune cable.

If you'd like to see an example of what I am talking about, I have a picture of the program guide showing these odd channel numbers on this page:

http://www.deruberhanyok.net/serendi....html#extended

I don't have a picture of the channel setup that shows the full channel number but the format appears to be "xx-xxxx-x" and as you can see since it does not recognize the channel it cannot retrieve schedule data. I can view the channels without any problem, though (I can even record the 2 hour blocks of "no data" and then watch whatever I recorded).

There are numerous channels like this. A few of the channels seem to be assigned numbers that correspond to the broadcast channels (a local FOX affiliate, which is channel 45 over ATSC reception, shows as channel 45-1, I believe channels 2 and 11 also do this) and those also show "no data" in the program guide.

About two months ago comcast changed their channel lineup for this county, which happens to be about the same time I upgraded this system. I think the problem may stem from that. The analog channel listing/guide works fine and has the updated numbers for all the cable and network channels; the digital channel listing seems to have all of the channels right except for the networks.

[edit] incidentally I've updated to SageTV 6.4 since I wrote that, it was my first step in troubleshooting.

Also if I *do not* scan for channels then when I try to select the channel which SHOULD be the unencrypted local network I get "no signal." I believe that the actual channel numbers (the "xx-xxxx-x" numbers) aren't mapped correctly to their new cable channel numbers in the listing. I'd rather be wrong about this, though, and have it be a simple fix.

[Opus4]

The channel numbers are not what is used to map the stations for EPG data. You'll need to use the Channel Setup option for Remap -> Map Different Station to this Physical Channel, then choose the proper station name when setting up most QAM tuners.

There is a sticky list of tuner setup tips in the hardware section -- there is a link for setting up QAM with a 1600, but the 1800 setup may be similar.

- Andy

[deruberhanyok]

I was afraid that would be my only recourse. Looks like right now I'll have to wait until prime time, scan all available channels, identify which ones are the HD networks for DC and Baltimore and then map them to the proper logical channels... then hope that at some point the listing populates and I get schedule information.

That's kind of a pain... so you're saying that the physical channels (78-2-1 as an example) are not used to determine the logical channel (210 as an example)? How are the logical channels determined, then?

[deruberhanyok]

To anyone running into the same problem I had, here's the Baltimore HD networks and their channels (on Comcast). The first number is the logical channel - this needs to be set or it won't pull schedule data for the program guide. The number in the brackets is the physical channel.

210 ABC [78-2-1]
211 NBC [78-11-1]
212 CBS [77-13-1]
213 FOX [76-45-1]
214 CW [76-54-1]

They don't seem to be broadcasting the DC networks in HD on Comcast in this area.

I do not know if these channel assignments will work without scanning for all available channels first. I selected the lineup, disabled all the channels and then had it scan for anything available. After it did that I disabled all of the channels again and set up the above stations.

I had to move the NBC station from logical channel 11-1 to 211 to get it to show up; the other 4 networks I had to set the physical channel for 210, 212, 213 and 214 to the values above.

Once that was done I was able to check the program guide and schedule records as I expected.

Hope this helps someone. Actually, I hope that the channel scan works one day, but in the meantime, this ought to take care of the unencrypted major networks (I didn't look for MPT, "MY24" or any others, but if you happen across them please post them in case someone is looking for the info).